stress management

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The fight or flight response is what is commonly known as the stress response, what our ability is to handle stressful situations - the cause and effect of stress.  It can also be known as the following: - Fright, fight or flight response - Stress response - Hyperarousal - Acute stress response - The fawn and or the Freeze response. 

The Physiological reaction to the stress response occurs even before the person’s brain has time to consciously and intelligently asses the/a situation. When there is a threat perceived to the well-being of the person the fight or flight reaction commences before the person is even aware of precisely what the threat is or the level of danger it presents. The brain acts before it thinks to provide the fastest possible response to danger it releases adrenaline and norepinephrine from the adrenal glands.

When a person (brain) senses something perceived as potentially threatening, a number of physiological changes take place in the body. These reactions include: 

 • Heart rate speeds up.  

• Breathing speeds up and becomes shallow. 

 • Stomach and upper-intestinal action (digestion) stops. 

 • The overall effect on the sphincters of the body (either opens or slams shut).  

• Constriction of blood vessels in several parts of the body.  

• The liberation of nutrients for muscular action.  

• Dilation of blood vessels for increased blood flow to muscles (blood and glucose rush to the muscles).  

• Inhibition of the Lacrimal gland (responsible for tear production and salivation).  

• Dilation of pupils.  

• Relaxation of the bladder (and sometimes evacuation of the colon). 6  

• Sexual function ceases. 

 • Acceleration of instantaneous reflexes.  

• Blood pressure increases 

 • Adrenal secretions flush into the bloodstream. 

The fight-or-flight response is triggered when danger is perceived and can either last a short time, providing a lifesaving burst of energy, or be prolonged and remain ‘switched on’ for a long time, even years. When a person is under constant or frequent stress or persistently in a dangerous or traumatic situation, they may be in fight-or-flight all the time therefore being harmful to the person over long periods of time. 

Negative effects of the stress response in humans are an inappropriate and extended activation of the stress response and that it causes long term physiological and psychological harm. Some of these problems caused are as follows:  

• Alcohol and drug dependencies.  • Anorexia.  • Anxiety and panic disorders.  • Asthma, allergies, skin diseases.  • Cancer.  • Chronic fatigue syndrome.  • Chronic pain.  • Constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis.  • A depressed immune system that increases the likelihood of colds and infections.  • Depression and suicide.  • Diabetes.  • Difficulty maintaining sexual arousal, loss of libido.  • Difficulty urinating, bladder infection, bladder disease.  • Erectile dysfunction.  • Fibromyalgia.  • Headaches and migraines.  • Heart disease, heart attack.  • High blood pressure.  • High cholesterol.  • Hypertension.  • Joint Pain.  • Multiple Sclerosis.  • Muscle stiffness, backaches, neck pain.  • Sleep disturbances.  • Stroke.  • Ulcers and digestive disorders. 

Positive stress adds anticipation and excitement to life. ‘eustress’ is a positive form of stress, usually associated with desirable events in a person's life, like looking forward to an event with excitement. Positive stress can also refer to the times you respond well to a challenge that you experience from a stressor.

There are 5 steps that will help us recognize stress in our lives these are as follows: 

1. Develop an understanding of how stress affects us physiologically and psychologically.  

2. Learn to recognize the symptoms of stress in our bodies.  

3. Understand what our stress triggers are. 

 4. Develop techniques for releasing stress (returning our bodies to the relaxation response).  

5. Discover how to avoid or minimize the situations in our lives that cause us stress.   

To help cope with stress Creative Arts Therapy is one of many ways to bring your body back down to a calmic state. From completing a Deep relaxation exercise, to creative writing, drawing,  making or music. Through these activities you have the ability to relax and to keep yourself in present time. These activities can help to release the tenseness in muscles and we, become more familiar with how our bodies muscle tense and relax motion. Learning to bring yourself to a present state and being mindful of your mind, body and soul you can become aware of the stress response generally.  When we are aware of the difference of muscle tense and relax modes we will be able to respond accordingly and have the ability to help ourselves return to the relaxation response negating the stress response and bringing us back to a calm state.

Our thoughts can play a vital role in triggering the stress response.  When a thought triggers a stress response it triggers the hypothalamus and the pituitary, the adrenal glands manufacture and release the stress hormones dopamine, epinephrine (or adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and primarily cortisol.  Adrenaline increases our heart rate, boosts energy supplies, and increases blood pressure.  Cortisol, is regarded as the primary stress hormone; it causes an increase in blood sugar (glucose) levels in the bloodstream, enhances our brain's use of glucose, and increases the availability of substances that repair tissues.  

Due to our hectic over stimulated lifestyles many of us live, it is a fact that most people are highly stressed, have poor stress management skills, and function primarily from a fight-or-flight response all the time. This can and does have damaging effects on our lives and has an enormous negative impact. Prolonged and unmanaged stress can cause may different types of behaviours and problems in our society, such as: 

• Significant increase in stress-related illness.  

• The overburdening of medical resources (shortage of hospital beds and medical staff).  

• Drain on public finances and increases in health insurance premiums.  

• A decrease in work productivity – a Higher rate of sickness and injury claims. 

 • Rise in crime rate, particularly violent and drug-related crimes.  

• Road rage  

• Fluctuation in weight (digestion is affected by fight-or-flight reaction)  

• Rise in drug and alcohol addiction.  

• More frequent relationship breakdowns.  

• A rise in diagnosed mental illness 

 • Significant rise in suicides.

Learning how to combat stress and have good stress management systems in place for ourselves will help, Creative Arts Therapy and Holistic Counselling is a positive way to start the journey on how to achieve ways to overcome stress within our everyday lives.